Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Green & Black's (+ Giveaway!!!)

I have long maintained a love affair with chocolate. The darker, the better. If it's caramel-filled, I'm in heaven. If there are dried fruits involved, I'm swooning. I'll take it hot in a mug, snuggled into a s'more, or even just straight up. When it comes to chocolate, I'm often equal opportunity consumer.

Which is why I was so excited when one of my most beloved chocolate purveyors, Green & Black's, contacted me recently. Well known in the UK, but less so here in the States, Green & Black's is attempting to spread the word about what they do and, wisely, looking to bloggers as a means of doing so. I've actually been a huge Green & Black's fan for years and am thrilled to be able to discuss them here with you today.

Not only is the company's chocolate exquisitely tasty, it's also organically grown. As one of the most heavily sprayed crops in the world, it's so pleasing to learn of a business that understands, applauds, and employs organic cacao production methods. Green and Black's chocolate is also certified Fair Trade. This means that the farmers, their families, and all of the individuals involved in growing, harvesting and processing the chocolate are provided a fair, living wage, enabling them to thrive in their personal lives and aid their communities in the process.

While flavor of any food is a large motivation for whether or not I'll choose to eat it, growing methods and labor practices of the companies behind them are just as significant in my decision-making process. Green & Black's hits all the right notes for me, from delicious, to sustainable, to ethical. I promote these practices at home and whenever I write about chocolate, including in the Ingredients section in my new book. The more these methods are employed, the more we collectively benefit.

Owing to all of that, I'm super pumped to offer a giveaway of Green & Black's products today! The company has generously offered 3 (!!!) small measure readers a gift package including their Ultimate Recipe Book and Classic Collection, pictured above. That's some good stuff there, folks!

All you need to do to enter the giveaway is tell me your favorite ways of eating chocolate (or, if you can't choose, one of your favorite!). I mentioned several of mine above, but I'll also add partnered with peanut butter to my roster. What about you?

I'll run the giveaway through next Wednesday, June 27th, ending at midnight EST. PLEASE leave a means of contacting you in your reply, either by linking back to your blog/website (which will need somewhere on there telling me how to contact you), or by leaving your email address with your comment (if you'd like to keep your email private, just make a comment with your name and then send me your email at: ashleyadamsenglish(at)gmail(dot)com).

Even if you don't win, do check out Green & Black's. They're a wonderful company with an even better mission. Now, if you'll pardon me, I've got a bar of Peanut & Sea Salt (I! KNOW!) that needs nibbling....

*Please note the following disclosure, provided by Green & Black's: Kraft Foods is providing the prizes for this program at no cost to me.
This program is not administered or sponsored by Kraft Foods or its
affiliates, but solely by Small Measure.

150 comments:

Asking someone what their favorite way to use chocolate is is a daunting task, isn't it? How about my oddest way to use it - in black bean chili! It adds a really nice dark, rich note that isn't quite identifiable as chocolate but makes a big difference.

My two favorite ways--hot chocolate (cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon, cayenne mixed with a little water and then with microwaved milk) or from a piece of the 1 lb bar of dark chocolate I keep in the cupboard (I think all mom's have the cupboard chocolate, mine certainly did)!

I've heard of this brand but never tried it...mid-way through this pregnancy my latest craving is for good chocolate though, so even if I don't win some, I may go buy some. :)

Favorite way to enjoy chocolate...I prefer milk chocolate, but if it's *good* chocolate then dark is just fine, and I'll usually eat it straight up. Lately I've been sticking it in the freezer for a little while first, as cold, crunchy chocolate is a divine treat in the middle of a FL summer.

Ashley, have you tried Raw Shakti Chocolate? It's made locally in Asheville by hand, organic, fair trade, and superbly delicious. If you're interested, email me and I'll see if the business manager wants to send you some to sample for a giveaway or something.

I'll honestly take chocolate in any form I can get it. Straight up is my preferred method- break off a neat little square and pop it in my mouth to savor. 2nd favorite method? Home churned chocolate ice cream...especially on those sweltering New England humid summer days! 3rd favorite? Has to be as part of a campfire s'more. Yum-o!

I'm a big fan of mole sauce with chocolate, for the novelty of it all. But Chocolate really is meant to be eaten sweet, I think, with a little salt to intensify the experience. Yum. laelgilbert@hotmail.com

My favourite way to eat chocolate is with my mother, from whom I have inherited my chocoholic tendencies! And my social conscience, which makes choosing a Fair Trade product so important. She introduced me to Green & Black's a number of years ago, and I would like nothing better than to share more of it with her.

Oooooh, I love Green & Blacks chocolate! There are a few varieties in our local Wegmans. I love to eat chocolate with a mug of tea or a glass of red wine. I also love it on a s'more with a vegan marshmallow and a homemade graham cracker. Yum! Cherylcherylteddy@hotmail.com

LOVE Green & Blacks!! Awesome giveaway. My favorite way to eat chocolate is either 'straight up' or spread on my toast ( I would love to know if there is a fairtrade and organic version of nutella out there...)

I just ate a small bit of my Green & Blacks dark chocolate w/ mint bar about 5 minutes ago. Yum! I think chocolate baked goods are my favorite treat, but you really get a lot of good chocolate satisfaction with just a bit of a straight up chocolate bar-

I've been a fan of Green & Blacks for a long time! For me, the sweet and salty combination of nuts and chocolate can't be beat. Any kind of salty nut will do. Caramel comes in second. nasturtium (at) fastmail.fm

Ooooh. The (food) love of my life! When it comes to good chocolate, I'm almost always for savoring it little bite by little bite. However, I've been wanting to make homemade hot fudge and good chocolate would be the very best foundation!

Mmmm. I will take it pretty much any way. Growing up I LOVED chocolate covered potato chips! A maybe more grown up version that's so good is sliced baguette topped with squares of chocolate, put under the broiler until the chocolate melts but still holds its shape, then drizzled with olive oil and a bit of salt.

Aww this makes me so sentimental as I gave up my vegan truffle business last year (see http://ecogrrl.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/chocolate-covered/ ). I love working with chocolate, and making my hand-rolled truffles was such a zen thing for me, I only wish I had the time to spend on it these days...

I have 3 Green & Black bars in my fridge. Which leads to how I like to eat chocolate... I love a bite off a bar after dinner as I sip a glass of red wine. A bite of fine chocolate is all I need. Nothing more. It is perfect bliss to let a rich piece of dark chocolate melt against the roof of your mouth.

I see that I am in good company! I also like mine "straight up." These days it's the mint that drives me wild. I do have to say that I was surprised and a bit saddened to learn they are a subsidiary of Kraft though.

Actually, the last time I was in Asheville we went to the West Asheville tailgate market and I bought a raw chocolate "medicine ball." Oh my...I have been craving them since. Would love to try Green & Blacks. dukej283@gmail.com

Mmmmmm chocolate, how do I love thee, let me count the ways....really good hot chocolate on a winters day, a few squares in my veggie chili, melted inside a grilled banana with walnuts, straight from the bar....Mrskrafty@yahoo.com

Yum! Green and Blacks is sooooo good. I like my chocolate straight up, the darker the better, with a glass of red wine by candlelight on the screen porch! A smooth chocolate mousse is second best. Thanks for a great giveaway.

What a great giveaway. I've tasted their chocolate before and it's just delicious! As a few others have mentioned, I love my chocolate dark. And when paired with a glass of red wine, it doesn't get much better than that! :)

hmmm... i love chocolate in all of its glorious forms! i mostly eat dark chocolate by the square - pieces grabbed here and there throughout my day. i love it with sea salt or with coconut. oh, so good! thank you for the offer. :)~hilarymk@yahoo.com

Green & Blacks chocolate is the best! (although enjoying chocolate in Belgium was pretty good also). My choice is the darker the better, with fruit is yummy,but the best way is enjoying it with someone you truly love...hmmm pure happiness!

I love chocolate too. I would like to let it melt in my mouth like my husband does, but I have a hard time making it last that long! I prefer dark chocolate with nuts, sometimes dried fruit and anytime with peanut butter or carmel or both (if they don't have it, they should!).

Oh, how I love Green & Black's chocolate, for all the reasons you mentioned. Even though I have a limited grocery budget, I used to always make room for my Green & Black's. I'd eat maybe a quarter of a bar to get me through the afternoon almost every day at work! My favorite way to eat chocolate is just by itself. I do like to top a spoonful of peanut butter with some choc. chips though. :)carissa.savage@gmail.com

This may sound odd, but my very favorite way of eating chocolate is to have it with an icy cold glass of milk (almond, please). I love how the chocolate shatters into lovely little shards in my mouth and melts into perfect bits of flavor. Divine! Being pregnant, this has been a favorite snack of late. Sadly, I'm all out of quality chocolate at work and now I want some!

I love to take a box of chocolates, mix them all up and hide the lid that tells me which one is which. :) It means living life on the edge. And yes... it's really about trying to guess which one is the caramel filled one and eating it first. :)

I prefer my chocolate in two ways: homemade dark hot chocolate in a mug (drank by a warm wood stove) or pieces of hard dark chocolate along side a hot cup of strong black coffee from my stovetop percolator.

I am already in love with G&B, my favorite being their mint chocolate, which is perfect perfect perfect just one square at a time. But I also like to chop up a chocolate bar and mix into cookies and bars for an extra dark chocolate burst.

Oh chocolate...How I love thee! The onset of summer has made me crazy for some chunky dark chocolate "snuggled into a s'more." Nothing feels more like summer than a chocolatey s'more!-ldhemrick@gmail.com

My favorite way to eat chocolate is either paired with very sweet but not too sticky caramel or with peanut butter (in fact I like peanut butter with so many things! lol) Also, how could I pass up mentioning that either one of these combos is really best in a gooey form and poured on homemade ice cream!

Is there such a thing as a "wrong" way to love chocolate? I don't think so! I'm late to the chocolate lovers party - spent a lot of years ignoring it because I thought it was "too sweet". Then I met dark chocolate and the love affair was on! Caramel and salt only add to the experience!

I got an ice cream maker for my husband for father's day, and just yesterday I made a hazelnut and milk chocolate gelato . . . I am usually a big peanut-butter and chocolate kind of gal, but the hazelnut-chocolate combo was pretty out of this world! Thanks for the giveaway!

Umm yes please! I love chocolate. It started when I worked for a small chocolate company when I was first married. My favorite is just plain old chocolate, but I can be persuaded with choc n pb, choc n caramel, choc n mint, or choc n fruit. This has been fun to learn of a fair trade organic company, very important. candiseifer@yahoo.com

Oh my goodness. Deciding how I love to eat chocolate is almost like asking which of your children is your favorite. Straight. Straight frozen. Straight melted. With fruit centers. Drizzled on fruit. With nuts in. Covering nuts. With nut butters. Baked in cakes, cookies, brownies (with or without frostings). Spread over other baked goods. In ice cream. On ice cream. In drinks. You name it I LOVE IT. And I LOVE the thought of it being organically grown and fairly traded. That makes it taste even better.

we try to eat mostly organic, but for my daughter I've tried to be strictly organic, she's 3, so when she was potty training my friends suggested mini M&M's for rewards, so instead I looked for organic chocolate and discovered green and black, she went crazy for it! worked like a charm! we are hooked!

About Me

Making an attempt to craft a good life with my husband and young son in a small mountain community. I find pleasure in the light at dusk, atlases, hard cider, cat antics, dog breath, baby giggles, homemade ice cream and snorty laughter.
Author of the "Homemade Living" book series (Lark Books) which showcases topics related to small-scale homesteading and some of the diverse ways people are reconnecting with their food and food communities and taking up sustainable food practices.
I also host a bi-monthly column every Friday on Design*Sponge:http://www.designspongeonline.com/category/small-measures.
E-mail me directly at: ashleyadamsenglish(at)gmail.com.

The Best LIttle Chicken Coop in Candler

"The Big Problem is nothing more or less than the sum total of countless little everyday choices, most of them made by us and most of the rest of them made in the name of our needs and desires and preferences."-Michael Pollan